Headaches and Pranksters
by SN1983
Summary: While at work Jeff gets a call from Gordon's school telling him that his presence in required for a meeting with the principal immediately. What could the 8 year old have got himself into now?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I own nothing! Nope, if I did I wouldn't be currently job hunting! **

**I was planning on waiting till later to write this, but I knew that I needed something to get me in the right mindset for Gordon. I have the hardest time relating to his character out of all the Tracys. ****I've never found anything that has said where in Kansas they were from, simply that Jeff grew up on his parent's farm, kinda like Dorothy…lol! **

**As with my other stories, this one has not been betad (sp?). I did my best to find any grammatical or spelling errors. As usual, some of the sentenced meant to be spoken by the characters contain intentional grammatical errors.**

**On to the story!**

Jeff worked quickly through the exponentially growing stack of paperwork on his desk. It didn't seem to matter how many he finished, there were already ones to replace them before he placed them in his out bin. He really needed to hire section managers that he could delegate this…this _stuff_ to. Especially now that he had opened Tracy Enterprises in New York City, speaking of which, he had meetings there this weekend. His mother was going to end up burning his ears like she did when he was a kid if he didn't stop. It would make more sense to relocate the family to NYC, but he had five sons. Five, athletic, hyper, growing sons. Did he really want to try to raise them in a huge city? No. However, if his other set of plans worked out he may have to look at boarding schools. His mother was _really_ going to hate that, but there really was no other way to socialize and educate the boys properly from a tropical island where they would be the only residents under 21.

All of a sudden a buzzing noise started coming from under a stack of files that immediately spilled everywhere when he moved them. He groaned and barely kept from banging his head on his desk as he jabbed the button on the intercom.

"Yes, Karen?" Jeff asked.

"Star Elementary School on line 2, Jeff," Karen answered sympathetically.

This time Jeff couldn't resist the urge to bang his head on his desk. "Did they say which boy?" he asked in a voice laced with parental pain.

"No sir, they simply kept saying that they needed to speak with you. The state's passed some new laws regarding children rights last month. They may not be able to release that kind of information to non-parents anymore," she answered.

'_This keeps getting better and better,'_ Jeff thought. He counted on those few minutes to prepare himself for whatever news he was going to receive. If the call concerns Scott, then he's sick or has got into a fight over his brothers. If they're calling about John, then he's sick or they want a parent/teacher conference about his academic level. If it's Virgil, then it could mean any of the reasons for Scott and John. Gordon, well, Gordon was in his own category when it came to phone calls from the schools. Those were the ones he dreaded. Gordon was too smart for his own good. Academically he had to work for his grades, but common sense, or street wise as Jeff's daddy put it, he was off the charts. He could work almost any situation in his favor and he was only eight! Alan was in preschool this year instead of headstart like Jeff and Lucy had planned. With him shutting down like he had after Lucy's death, Jeff and his mother agreed that another year of preschool which was only half days was better. Jeff's mother currently was volunteering at the preschool, so she automatically dealt with any issues without Jeff needing to be called.

Jeff sighed and picked up the receiver, praying as his finger moved towards the button for line 2 that John was the subject of this call. He was also thankful that he had opted out of a vidphone for his office. Especially since his office looked like his boys' bedrooms.

"Jeff Tracy speaking. How may I help you today?" Jeff answered the phone.

"Mr. Tracy, this is Jackson Hobbs, principal here at Star Elementary," the disembodied voice on the other end answered.

"Yes, Dr. Hobbs, what can I do for you today?" Jeff asked hoping against hope that the school simply needed some funding. Scott and John attended the county wide high school. Virgil was at Jenkins County Middle, which unfortunately left Gordon. Now that he thought about it, Karen did say 'elementary' earlier. Wishful thinking on his part must have kept it from sinking in before now.

"There has been an incident involving Gordon that has been brought to my attention. I realize that you have a lot on your plate and usually need to plan this kind of meeting in advance, but I need you to come down to the school as soon as you can. Gordon will be waiting in my office until you arrive," Dr. Hobbs answered.

Jeff sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "He can't return to class? It will take me around an hour to get there. I need to cancel another meeting and arrange for someone to pick Virgil up for his dentist appointment since I was supposed to," Jeff asked.

"I understand, Mr. Tracy, however long it takes you to get here is fine. Gordon, however will not be returning to class today. I will have one of the office assistants to watch him until you arrive." Dr. Hobbs replied.

Jeff sighed, "Very well", he said, "I'll see you in an hour."

"See you then, Mr. Tracy", Dr. Hobbs replied as he hung up.

Jeff let his head fall back down to his desk as he put the receiver back in its cradle. He slowly moved his hand to press the button for the intercom while leaving his head in its current position.

"Yes, Jeff?" Karen's pleasant voice filtered through the speakers to Jeff's office.

"Can you come in here?" Jeff asked.

Instead of answering using the intercom Karen immediately opened the door and stopped in shock at her boss with his head down on his desk and the sight of all the papers all over the floor around his desk. A sure sign of knocked over folders. Folders that would have to be repacked and double-checked before Jeff could 'ok' them. She sighed. First things first, deal with the boss who looks like the world is about to crash around him after a phone call. Although considering it was Gordon's school, and he was the only Tracy there currently, Jeff was probably justified.

"Jeff! What on Earth?" Karen exclaimed. That earned her a raised head (along with an eyebrow, but hey, his head was off the desk!) at least.

Jeff sighed and looked around seeing his office through her eyes. It was a mess, and knowing Karen it would be cleaned by the time he returned from Gordon's school. He seriously didn't know how she did it. "Sorry about the mess. I had the files on top of the intercom, which in hindsight was pretty stupid. When I moved them to answer, well you can see the end result." Jeff said as he tried to explain away the mess.

"You do realize that they have to be repackaged and sent back to the departments they came from, double checked, and then finally sent back for your approval?" Karen countered with her right eyebrow raised as she stared pointedly at her boss/friend.

Jeff flinched, yea, he knew alright. He was the one that had come up with and enforced the policy. However, at this moment he had a bigger issue. "As you're probably aware, that was Gordon's school on the phone. My presence in the principal's office has been requested immediately. Apparently Gordon's waiting on me and will not be allowed back to class today. And no, I have no idea what he managed to accomplish this time. The problem is that I have that meeting with Ferris Automotive Groups, which I need you to reschedule for later today. Harold has children of his own, so he'll understand. Virgil however has a dental appointment that I was supposed to take him to in a couple of hours. I will probably not be finished by then. Mother will be with Alan at a birthday party by then. He's actually been excited about it. I really don't want to keep him from being able to go." Jeff deflected.

"Which do you want me to do? Birthday party or dental appointment? I do feel like I should warn you that Alan is not too comfortable around me anymore", Karen countered.

"If you don't mind taking Virgil. He's going to the same doctor as the other boys do on Main. Mother should be home with Alan by the time he's done, so if you don't mind taking him on home. He's not going to feel like coming here. He's going to have braces put on." Jeff answered.

"Alright, I'll call Harold Ferris and take Virgil to the dentist and then home," Karen assured him, "Hopefully, Gordon won't be in as bad of trouble as it sounds. Hobbs is new to the area and probably just wants to show he's serious."

Jeff snorted as he put on his jacket and grabbed his briefcase to head out the door. In about fifteen minutes he was behind the wheel of his Dinali heading towards Star Elementary, which ironically was actually located closer to the little community of Golden Fields then the county seat of Star. However since Golden Fields mainly consisted of what the name implied most people forgot it existed unless a, you lived there or b, you were looking at a map of the county.

As he cruised down the road with his windows down and sunroof back, he could almost forget that he was on his way to a parent conference…almost.

**AN: What on Earth could Gordon have got himself into? How will Jeff react? Perhaps Jeff should also be thinking, 'How will my mother react?' as well. LOL! See ya next weekend with updates on this and _To Be or Not To Be a Thunderbird_. For those of you also reading my Supernatural story, _Sanctuary_, I will be posting the final chapter of that story by next weekend as well, hopefully earlier. Happy reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I own nothing! **

**I've never found anything that has said where in Kansas they were from, simply that Jeff grew up on his parent's farm, kinda like Dorothy…lol! On to the story!**

**I was planning on waiting till later to write this, but I knew that I needed something to get me in the right mindset for Gordon. I have the hardest time relating to his character out of all the Tracys. **

Jeff strode into the main office of Star Elementary. Unfortunately, he knew this office very well, an unfortunate result of having four boys going to this school. If he was honest, he spent a lot of time in that office as a student in the school himself.

Mrs. Allen, the school secretary, smiled at Jeff apologetically, but the person he was focused on was currently trying to make himself disappear in a corner chair.

"Gordon! Come here," Jeff said sternly.

Gordon slowly slid off the chair and walked over to his father.

"Now, Gordon, not tomorrow," Jeff said, looking up and noticing Dr. Hobbs standing in the door of his office.

Gordon went up to his father and looked up with a small grin and said, "Yes, Daddy?"

Jeff put his hands on his hips and looked down at Gordon, who continued to smile at him even though he knew full well that he was in major trouble. Not only had he been sent to the office, but his father had had to leave work and come to the school.

"Mr. Tracy, how about we take this into my office?" Dr. Hobbs asked.

Jeff looked up at Dr. Hobbs and nodded. He motioned with his hand for Gordon to walk ahead of him into the office. Jeff shook his head. Here was Gordon in trouble, going to the principal's office _with his father in tow_, and still he was grinning!

Dr. Hobbs went into his office and sat behind his desk leaving the two chairs in front of the desk for Jeff and Gordon. Jeff sat in the one on the left and watched Gordon sit down in the other chair. Gordon was actually looking a little nervous now that he was sitting in front of the principal.

"_It's amazing what putting a desk between the one in trouble and yourself does to their bravado!"_ Jeff thought.

"Mr. Tracy, I thought that I would let Gordon here tell you what exactly he decided to try today," Dr. Hobbs opened with.

Jeff looked at Gordon and raised his brow. Gordon swallowed slightly and then turned towards Jeff with a serious look on his face.

"I became a buisiness man, Daddy," Gordon said earnestly.

"A _business_ man? What kind of business man?" Jeff asked while glancing over at Dr. Hobbs. He could already tell that this story was not going to end well and Gordon had only said one sentence so far!

"Well, Toby liked the prank I pulled on Scott the other day at the park, and asked if I could help him do it," Gordon answered. Gordon froze. "Uh…Daddy…"

"Let me guess, you said 'yes'," Jeff said while rubbing his forehead with his hand, choosing to ignore Gordon's admission of pranking Scott for now. After all, Scott was 15 years old. If the prank had bothered him, then he would have said something.

"Oh, no, Mr. Tracy, it gets much more complicated," Dr. Hobbs said, "Gordon, finish your story."

"Well, Toby said he'd give me five dollars if I helped him. I told him I would, cause I want a new baseball mit. Drew overheard us and he asked if I had a good prank that he could use against his older brother who's always teasing him.," Gordon continued, getting more confident as he recounted his morning, "I told him that I had one, but for five dollars like Toby."

Jeff looked down and shook his head while inwardly groaning. He knew where this story was heading and the thought that kept running through his head was, _'Only Gordon…only, Gordon'_.

"And then Anna asked if she gave me $5 if I would give her a prank to use on her grandmother that's staying with them right now," Gordon continued, "And then…"

"Gordon, Gordon, I get the picture," Jeff interrupted. He just wanted this meeting to get over with.

"You see why I called you. He was creating a disturbance in the classroom. His teacher even started giving the students recess detention if they kept asking, but that did no good. Now, I know that this wouldn't normally sound bad enough to warrant a call home. However, when his grade went to lunch, the news of Gordon's prank business spread like wildfire. All of the students were swarming his table regardless of the teachers and lunchroom staff's efforts to keep them in their seats," Dr. Hobb's said, "Today is Friday, therefore I thought it best to go ahead and send Gordon on home. Hopefully, this will blow over by Monday. The other students will be notified as well that this topic is off limits. Now Gordon is not going to get off scott free, which is probably what he's thinking since he's currently grinning. Gordon will have three days after school detention starting Monday."

"That sounds more than fair, Dr. Hobbs. I can assure you that he will also be punished at home as well," Jeff responded. He sent a glare over at Gordon, who had wisely dropped the grin and now looked worried.

"Hopefully, the next time we meet will be under better circumstances," Dr. Hobbs said. He stood up and held his hand out over the table.

"I hope so as well. Have a good day, sir," Jeff said while standing up and shaking the proffered hand. He turned and looked at his little trouble maker. "Come on, Gordon. Let's get you signed out."

The Gordon that followed Jeff out of the office was far more reserved than the bundle of energy that had greeted him. He hoped that the seriousness of his actions had finally occurred to him.

Jeff quickly signed Gordon out and ushered him out the door and to the Dinali. Jeff didn't say a word as he helped Gordon into his booster seat. Unfortunately, and much to Gordon's annoyance, he was still ten pounds underweight and a few inches too short to ride in the car without at least a booster.

"Daddy?" Gordon asked timidly.

Jeff looked Gordon in the eye and shook his head. He shut the door and walked around to get in his seat. He buckled himself in and started the vehicle. Only then did he look in the rearview member at his sad passenger.

"I take it from what Dr. Hobb's said that you already had lunch?" Jeff asked.

"Yes, sir," Gordon answered.

"Good, let's go home," Jeff responded.

The drive home had to have been one of the quietest and longest drive Jeff had ever had. Gordon wisely had kept quiet. When they arrived home, he sent Gordon to his room to change before he came to Jeff's home office. While Jeff waited on his son, he thought about Gordon calling himself a business man and his business venture. Soon, what had started as a quiet chuckle turned into a full fledged laugh. Jeff laughed so hard he didn't think he'd be able to stop before Gordon came down, but how good the laugh felt.

"Thank you, Lucy, for our little mischief maker!" Jeff said quietly, looking at the ceiling, and still laughing.

**THE END…**

**or at least the end of this particular episode of the Tracy mischief maker's long and (in)famous career!**


End file.
